Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Less than two weeks ago, a magical gift appeared in my email inbox. It was a message from Sarah Glynn, front woman of power pop group, Tribella. She wanted to let me know that their debut CD was about to drop, and would I be interested in reviewing it?

Now Reader, as you may or may not know, I am typically terrible at these things. And by "these things" I mean sounding smart and informed in album review. But! Tribella's soon-to-be-released CD, Thirteen, has been stuck (willingly) in my car stereo for about a week now, and since I love it so much, I'm going to give this one a shot.

Alright, so for years, I was convinced Liz Phair was an Austinite. I'm not sure why (wishful thinking?), but perhaps Tribella had this desire, too. At any rate, the songs on Thirteen reminds me of Phair's gently vindictive lyric sensibilities:

"Once I was born a maker,

Then I became a taker,

America they pulled the wool right over both my eyes."

That's from "Deal Breaker," one of my favorite tracks on the album.

Musically, Tribella has touches of '90s indie pop rocker and fellow Austinite Abra Moore, particularly in Sarah Glynn's vocals, both breathy and powerful at once. (Pause. Raise your hand if you were as obsessed with Abra Moore's song "Four Leaf Clover" as I was?)

The songs on Thirteen, which drops next Tuesday (February 23), have quite a few irresistible pop hooks - I've put my favorites on a player below - but Dena Gerbrecht adds a complex layer of prog rock drums to each track, yielding a rich listen. The result is an album that you'll swallow happily, but not guiltily - this is well-crafted pop. Pop you can feel good about.

Tribella has a CD release show for Thirteen at Lambert's on Saturday, February 27. Here are some goodies below, and if you like, you can buy them for $0.99 each here. I like "Deal Breaker" and "My Guest List" for driving around and blasting; the Eric LeRoc remix of "Guest List" for running or at-home dance party. It's delicious.